Drown
by veraciousviolinistofvirtue
Summary: His well-being slowly depleting, he still tries to get everyone to think he's alright. His friends, however, see through this act and try to get him back to his senses. There just has to be some sort of way to get Shirou back to his cheerful disposition somehow. / Slight AU - in which Shirou does not have a dual personality, but suffers Survivor's guilt.


**Welcome once again, readers. As chapter two of "Lost in You" is in progress, I decided to write about my favorite character, Fubuki Shirou. Expect another Fubuki x Umeki (mostly implied though) from me haha. Hope you enjoy a darker themed fic about these two. And also, just a reminder that this is the former Wailing-of-the-Rain163/A-soul-scream since I moved accounts.**

**Without further ado, sit back, relax and review after!**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Inazuma Eleven or any of its characters. I only own Umeki, some OCs and the plot.**

* * *

Survivor's guilt, it is a condition in which the victim believes that they are at fault for the lost lives during a traumatic event that they had only survived. Six years had passed since the death of Shirou's family; he still felt the grief get to him pretty often. He'd feign a smile or two for his friends, but little did they know of his inner turmoil. He missed his mom, his dad... He missed his brother, Atsuya. If only what had happened to them was a distant nightmare, then he wouldn't be like this.

* * *

_"We'll be perfect together!" He could still hear his younger twin's words haunt him._

_Next thing he knew, the sound of mounds of snow gets closer and closer. His mother screams and the car stops. An avalanche was coming their way. Ten year-old Shirou's gray-blue eyes widened as he became paralyzed in fear. Was this... the end of them? Everything after that went black, until he woke up. He was all alone, pale and cold as a strong breeze blew. _

_'Mom? Dad?' He shouted as he shivered. _

_'Atsuya...?'_

_No one responded... _

_In denial, he began digging for any sign of them. If he can see at least a hand, he would have felt a little relief. But no, __**nothing**__. _

_Now completely scared, he shouted with a hoarse voice. "Help! Anyone? Please!" _

* * *

The silver-haired teen shot up from his bed quickly. Panting, he touched his cheek as he felt water sting his eyes. _Tears_. His nightmares were becoming more frequent. He's talked to his school counselor about them, but he had been little to no help; thinking more positively and playing soccer wasn't easing him from the trauma.

A sigh escaped his lips as he wiped the tears on his away with his sleeve. If anyone saw his current condition right now, they'd be—

"Shirou!" A teen with long brown hair and hazel eyes entered the room without warning.

Oh dear, she always came at the right time, didn't she? She approached him slowly and sat by the side of his bed. Her hazel hues observed him carefully as if he were prey. How typical of her to do.

"Ume-chan," He smiled slightly. "What brings you here?"

She frowned upon hearing his question. He had to stop pretending as if the things happening to him were part of life and are considered to be normal. The brunette has reassured him that he can tell her anything as they are childhood friends, but it's as if he'd rather have everything bottled up. Though of course, such is considered unhealthy, especially after what he had experienced.

"Endou-kun and the others said you had a sudden breakdown during training..." She stated. "Are you feeling okay? Is there anything you wanna tell me?"

He opened his mouth slightly; only to keep it closed as he shook his head. As much as everyone knew of the loss of his family, he hated bringing it up. It wasn't just because the memories would flood him again, but he was also trying to rid of them and be sure that he would not let anyone worry about him too much, especially after having to see Umeki and the others go through sleepless nights just to make sure he was fine.

"I'm fine," He lied oh so casually.

_'Dammit, Shirou...'_ She cursed to herself. It became a thing of his to play stubborn, really. The other could only sigh in exasperation; there's practically no use in forcing it out, unless she wanted him to break. Of course, she would hate for such an occurrence to take place. He was in pain enough and it broke her to see him trying to face everything all by himself.

_She could feel him dying from the inside._

The girl nodded slowly. "Okay then..." Unstrapping her randoseru, she unzipped it, bringing out a box of sliced stawberry shortcake along with a few napkins and a plastic fork. "Take it. Consider it your breakfast, I guess." She smiled slightly, opening the box for him.

Shirou wasn't sure what to say. Frequent as it is for Umeki to check on him, it was still something that always moved him.

Genuinely touched, he took the fork from her hand. "Thanks." He grinned.

He was about to dig in until a thought occurred to him. "Say... Ume, don't you get tired of doing all this for me?"

Five years is pretty long, if one thought about it. Perhaps it had become sort of daily routine for her now. Hasn't she gotten sick of ever watching over him. It's not like he had no idea how to fend for himself.

"Of course not," She replied without hesitance. "You and Atsuya have always been so nice to me since we all became friends. I'm just returning the favor, really." She reassured. "And besides..."

The sound of a grumble interrupted her speech. The two teenagers blinked for a moment before suddenly bursting out of laughter. Well, that was another way to lighten the atmosphere. After a decent thirty seconds, they eventually calmed down. Fubuki was the first to regain his composure as his companion followed.

"Well, your stomach has spoken~" The brunette said in a singing tone. "Dig in!"

The silver-haired teen nodded. "Yeah!"


End file.
